BEIJING, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday that China stands ready to work with Serbia to make their friendly relations even stronger with the passing of time.

In a telephone conversation with his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, Xi noted that as both China and Serbia are facing new opportunities and challenges at present, the two countries need to view and develop their relations from a strategic and long-term perspective.

File photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2019. (Photo: Xinhua)

Noting that the Serbian people attach great importance to friendship, Xi said the iron-clad China-Serbia friendship is most valuable and deserves to be firmly upheld and carried forward from generation to generation.

Xi stressed that the two countries should firmly support each other while making respective efforts to safeguard their national sovereignty and security.

China supports the development path chosen by the Serbian people based on their national conditions, Xi said.

The two sides should speed up high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, foster new growth areas of cooperation, share opportunities and seek common development, Xi said.

The two sides need to work together to tackle global challenges such as COVID-19, economic recovery and climate change, Xi said, adding that China is ready to offer further assistance to Serbia in fighting the epidemic as needed.

China and Serbia should also strengthen coordination in multilateral affairs, firmly uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core, defend international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and practice true multilateralism, Xi said.

Xi added that both sides must fully implement the consensus and outcomes of the Summit of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) and push for constant new progress in China-CEEC cooperation.